On 9 September 2009, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout and his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the establishment of a Permanent Conference of Czech and Austrian Historians on Common Cultural Heritage in Mikulov. The Conference effectively started its activities in November 2009 in Prague.
Its aim is to reflect critically and from a distance on the intertwined historical and social events of both countries and thus to strengthen the awareness of the common heritage among the public of both countries by means of critical reflection on their history.
"This Commission is a clear demonstration of the willingness to discuss our mutual history together and openly in the twentieth century, which includes the crucial years 1968 and 1989 as some of the most important chapters of our immediate post-war history." Michael Spindelegger (at the meeting in Mikulov on 9.9.2009)
